Improvement in the manufacture of illuminating-gas



am slam BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. or NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

Letters Patent No. 95,941, dated October 19, 1.869.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE" OF ILLUMINATING-G-AS.

The Schedulereferred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame To all whom it, may concern Be'it known that I, BENJAMIN S1LL1MAN,of the city of New Haven, in the county of New Haven, and State ofConnecticut, have discovered a new and useful Material for theManufacture or Production of Gas for Illuminating or Heating-Purposes;and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and

exact description thereof, such as will enable those skilled in the artto use the same.

7 The-material or substance is an extremely rich and entirely peculiarmineral hydrocarbon, and is found in the Wollongong district of theIllawara coal-field, in New South \Vales, and is called by me by thenameof Wollongongite.

Its mineralogical characters are as follows:

In cubical or oblong blocks, without lamination. Breaks with greatdifliculty, in broad conchoidal surfaces. Is extremely tough, andresounding; like hard wood under the blows of the hammer. Hardness, from2 to 2.5; and gravity, 1.04 to 1.5. Lustre, silky. Color, greenish blackand brownish yellow; streak, light brown to yellowish. No odor whenrasped. Tasteless. Sect-ile, thin shavings curling up under the knife.Not electric by friction of the mass, but shavings cut off by the knifeare highly electric. Translucent in thin shavings; and these, under themicroscope, transmit amber yellow light. Alone in a test-tube, does notmelt nor swell up; decrepitates and exhales a light vapor, and distils acopious flow of oil, of a yellow color and heavy odor, giving ofl' muchgas. Is insoluble in alcohol, ether, or benzole,

but is slightly acted on by carbonic disulphide orbisulphuret of carbon,to which it imparts a slightly yellow tinge. Chloroform dissolves fromit a minute amount of a substance resembling wax or vegetable tallow. Isreadily kindled in thin splints by a match, homing with a brilliantflame and much smoke.

From this description every person skilled in a knowledge of mineralcharacters will at once see that this substance is not a coal, but ismuch more like succinite or amber in some of its characters, while inthe ordinary gas-making process for obtaining gas from coal, or by thehydrocarbon process.

By the common process of the gas-house it yields about fourteen thousandcubic feet of gas to the ton of twenty-two hundred and. forty pounds,having an illuminating-power or intensity of over one hundred and thirtycandles, giving six cubic feet of gas per pound; one cubic foot of thegas being equal to the light of twenty-six sperm candles.

One ton of this material yields over eighteen hundred pounds of gas, andonly about four hundred and twenty pounds of very lightand lustrouscarbon.

By the hydrocarbon process, this Wollongongite yieldspver fourteen cubicfeet of gas per pound of the material. Its gas-producing power is suchthat a good sample of common caking" coal, which alone gives only aboutten thousand cubic feet of gas, of fourteen candles power, will, whenmingled with not over ten per cent. of the VVollongongite, yield oversixteen thousand cubic feet of gas'to the ton of mixture, of anilluurinating-power of over twenty candles.

These statistics are sutficient to show to all who are skilled in .theart of gas-making that such researches of mine have contributed or madeknown to that art a material beyond comparison more valuable than anyhitherto known among the various mineral hydro-carbons which areavailable for use in the-gashouse.

I considcr it preferable that this material should be employed in thehydrocarbon-gas process, as in that way it more fully develops itsremarkable powers; but it may be, used with great advantage in smallquantities as an enriching material to enhance the value of cakingcoals.

If used by itself, the quantity of hydrocarbon or water-gases should beproportionately increased.

What is claimed, and desired to be secured bv Letters Witnesses S. 1).Law, F. E. VAN'AUKEN.

